6 Real Acts of Self Defense Too Awesome for an Action Movie

#3. Whose House? God's House

Walking into St. Benno Church, our current pair of ill-fated opportunists spied their prize: the church's collection box. Seeing no witnesses save for the silent, judging gaze of all the saints and angels, one of the crooks began to bash the collection box open to get at the sacrilegious prize inside, like a pinata filled with damnation. But God was home that day, and he leaves that "turn the other cheek" stuff to his son: Before the thief could grab a single penny, a life-size statue of St. Antonius fell over and smacked him square in the mouth.

Not wanting to incite further wrath from God, the pair understandably turned and ran for it. It's a true miracle, isn't it? We have to assume that the hand of Christ turned the thieves' hearts forever afterward, making them repent all of their previo -- oh, wait, looks like they robbed the person who tended to the man's head wound five minutes later.

They may be sinners and bastards, but you have to admit: Those criminals were un-fucking-flappable.

GettyTotally worth it.

#2. SAS Don't Take No Sass

In Manchester, England, a group of lazy car thieves were walking down the street, just trying all of the car doors and hoping for an open one. Lo and behold, glory and hallelujah, they found one! Geoff's gettin' his Burberry on tonight, yo! Inside, the boys found a sweet haul of stereo equipment, personal valuables and, oh yeah -- four armed members of the British Army's Special Air Service.

militaryphotosIf we had a picture of those kids' reaction faces, we'd never need to run another article.

See, the SAS just happened to be out on an urban training exercise that day, which the teenagers had inadvertently, hilariously ruined. To their credit, the boys ran like they'd ... well, like they'd just seen four black-clad spec-ops soldiers armed to the teeth and crouching inside a darkened van.

Considering that the SAS refer to "terminating a terrorist cell" as a "spot of fun," this "a bit of a slap" business may well just mean a good-natured cuff ... or it might mean that the boys and their seed have been wiped clean from the slate of history.

GettyYou can tell an ex-SAS officer by the way he pops into your office cubicle "for a chat."

We just don't know, because what ultimately happened to the hooligans afterward is all classified.

Yeeeaahhh ... we're going to go out on a limb here and guess that one does not "classify" a "friendly slap upside the noggin." We'll go with that whole seed-wiping thing, thanks.

#1. The Samurai Stranger

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A group of burglars impersonating police officers knocked on a woman's door, forced their way inside and helped themselves to her stuff, as burglars are wont to do. So imagine the surprise and confusion all parties felt when the thieves dressed as police officers were confronted by actual police officers, out of their uniforms. Yes, these hapless criminals had just broken into a police school.

GettyUnwittingly recreating sitcom scenes gets you eight to 10 years in the U.K.

We all know what comes next: The cops swarm out and easily apprehend the criminals, laughing all the way, right? Not so: In this case, the officers were caught off-guard, unarmed and outnumbered. Seeing the weakness, one attacker took advantage and lunged at the nearest officer with a knife ...

You heard us: The attack was stopped at the last second by a mysterious stranger armed with a katana, who rushed headlong into the room to defend the officers. Seeing this, the knife-wielding burglar figured one of two things must be happening: Either he was actually facing down the last modern-day bushido warrior, or he'd finally racked up enough bad karma to rend time itself asunder. Luckily, the logical solution to either conundrum was the same: Just run like hell, dude.

And the man with the knife immediately did so.

Or at least he tried, only to be stopped by a series of powerful sword blows. The samurai stranger managed to stop two more of the thieves before disappearing into the night, probably to continue tracking the remaining criminals by their trail of terror-and-disbelief pee.

Getty"Today ends a little safer than yesterday, and with fewer limbs. Samurai, away!"

The officers arrested the remaining criminals, still incapacitated by sword blows and intense confusion, then reported the incident and counted their good fortunes. They also released a statement urging anyone with information about the "Samurai Stranger" -- and yes, that's officially what they called him -- to come forward. The police didn't actually want to thank him, though; they wanted to arrest him. Because, despite saving their lives, owning such a weapon is still illegal in England.